Der Rosenkavalier January 26 1911

[Petrushka]

Opera pundits might like to know that tomorrow, January 26, it is 100 years since the first performance of Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier.

I'm not too keen on opera but do like this one and may try to play Karl Bohm's 1969 Salzburg Festival performance with the VPO.

[Steerpike]

Thanks for the reminder Petrushka. I shall spend the day in mourning for the beginning of the end for one who, up to that point, was clearly one of the greatest opera composers ever - and not just opera.

Tin hat on, run for door etc.

[Mandryka]

Thanks for the reminder, Petrushka. I have a busy day/week tomorrow, so I don't expect to be able to watch my Kleiber/Lott/Von Otter/Bonney DVD, but when a suitable pause in my schedule arises, I shall programme some belated commemoration time.

[Pianorak]

I like opera but am not too keen on this one.

[Richard Tarleton]

Thank you for the reminder. One of my top three operas, alongside Meistersinger and Figaro. I have just two recordings, the EMI Karajan and Solti's with VPO with Crespin, Minton etc. A libretto of deep humanity, and glorious music. I was very lucky with my first live RK, a dream WNO cast with Susan Graham, Sheri Greenwald and Rebecca Evans in Swansea.

I was introduced to opera in the 1960s by an aunt who had seen everyone and everything at Covent Garden for the 30 years after World War 2. She had a friend, whom I also knew well, whose parents had been close friends of Dame Nellie Melba. This friend recalled (more than once ) sitting with Dame Nellie in her box at the ROH for a famous R'kavalier in the 1920s with Elizabeth Schumann et al, ES making a deep curtsey to Dame Nellie's box before acknowledging the general applause.

[Chris Newman]

Thanks, Petrushka,
I shall try to listen to my 1971 Scottish Opera version under Alex Gibson with Helga Dernesch, Elizabeth Harwood, Janet Baker, Thomas Hemsley, Noel Mangin.
Cheers, Chris.

[Curalach]

Thanks, Petrushka,
I shall try to listen to my 1971 Scottish Opera version under Alex Gibson with Helga Dernesch, Elizabeth Harwood, Janet Baker, Thomas Hemsley, Noel Mangin.
Cheers, Chris.

As will I Chris. It will bring back happy memories. The production was later revived with Walter Weller conducting who named his son Andreas because he was born in Scotland.
Iain

[Petrushka]

Thanks, Petrushka,
I shall try to listen to my 1971 Scottish Opera version under Alex Gibson with Helga Dernesch, Elizabeth Harwood, Janet Baker, Thomas Hemsley, Noel Mangin.
Cheers, Chris.

I remember listening to that on R3! I recall it hugely overran its time slot but they never worried about that in those days did they?

[Prommer]

Thanks for the reminder, Petrushka. I have a busy day/week tomorrow, so I don't expect to be able to watch my Kleiber/Lott/Von Otter/Bonney DVD, but when a suitable pause in my schedule arises, I shall programme some belated commemoration time.

The other Kleiber version is great too, maybe greater: a DVD of the same Schenk production from Munich in the late 70s: Jones, Popp, Fassbaender... glorious.

[Chris Newman]

I remember listening to that on R3! I recall it hugely overran its time slot but they never worried about that in those days did they?

It is extraordinary, Petrushka. Gibson takes 15 minutes longer than Solti or Karajan overall and almost half an hour longer than Carlos Kleiber. Having said that there is never any sense of over-romantic lingering and Gibson appears very fast at times.

[verismissimo]

Great Melba story, Mr Tarleton. Hadn't heard it before.

[Petrushka]

Afraid my plan to play the Bohm Rosenkavalier fell victim to the working day and the inevitable time constraints so it's one for the weekend, I think.

Had ro make do with the Suite recorded by Thielemann and the VPO.

[verismissimo]

Here are original cast members (Margarethe Siems/Nast/von der Osten), recorded just seven months after the premiere in August 1911:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fleqYWoPM5M

Fascinating. Different sound-world from Renee Fleming etc.

[bluestateprommer]

Video available of the new Barrie Kosky production of Der Rosenkavalier from the Bavarian State Opera, made w/o audience and with a reduced orchestra (all about social distancing, natch):

https://operlive.de/rosenkavalier/

Although the text says that availability was through yesterday (....), it still seems to work now for viewing, at least for presumably a few more days.

(UPDATE: an acquaintance on this side of the pond indicates that today may be the last day indeed for this video. So if you want to watch it, now looks like the time.)

[BBMmk2]

I rather like this opera. So much so, I’m currently transcribing the suite, from it, for concert band.